Ruling coalition Agree on Power Sharing

Nepal’s ruling coalition on Wednesday agreed on a power-sharing deal, paving the way for Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ to expand his Cabinet.

The top leaders of the ten ruling parties held two rounds of meetings at the Prime Minister’s official residence at Baluwatar to reach an agreement on the distribution of ministries among various political parties. Prime Minister Prachanda, Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, and CPN-Unified Socialist president Madhav Kumar Nepal among others were present during the meeting. Prachanda is likely to expand his Cabinet on Thursday following the deal.

Among the ten parties, which took part in the talks on Wednesday, nine are likely to join the council of ministers.

The Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre will get eight and five Cabinet positions respectively while CPN-Unified Socialist and Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal will get two posts each, as per the deal.

The Maoist Centre will get five Cabinet portfolios including the post of Prime Minister, according to the agreement. The other five political parties will get one seat each in the Cabinet. The Rastriya Swotantra Party, which has extended support to the government, will not join the government. A final decision on this will be made on Thursday morning.